After Republican Candidates Fail To RSVP, Middletown Forum Canceled

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — A candidates' night scheduled for Oct. 19 in Middletown has been canceled because the two Republican candidates for Township Committee are not participating.

Kevin Settembrino and Rick Hibell are the Republican Township Committeemen seeking re-election this year in Middletown. Both have been on the Middletown Township Committee for several terms now.

They will be challenged by Democrats Rocky Rios and Paige Gregorio.

The candidates' forum was going to be held Oct. 19 in Lincroft, and it would have been sponsored by the Lincroft Village Green Association and the Monmouth County League of Women Voters.

The group said they even extended the deadline for the Republicans to respond, and heard nothing.

"They actually didn't decline but never responded, and ... we could not hold that date indefinitely," said Marianne Kligman of the League of Women Voters, who tried to organize the Oct. 19 event. "It is always better for democracy when people seeking public office participate in public forums to explain why their residents should vote for them."

The event was billed as a chance for Middletown residents to meet their Twp. Committee candidates in person in an informal setting and ask them questions.

"The League of Women Voters and the Lincroft Village Green Association are sorry to announce that we will not be holding the Middletown Township Committee forum as planned since we never received an affirmative commitment from the Republican candidates to participate," wrote the group.

Rios blasted the decision as a lack of transparency for Middletown residents, and complacency from Middletown Republicans, as they have retained power for so long in town.

"The lack of response by our currently elected local officials is indicative of their strategy for this year's election. They want low voter turnout. They want uninformed voting," said Rios. "Why? Because it aligns with their national GOP agenda and their own sense of entitlement."

Last year, Middletown Democratic candidate Nicholas Babcock refused to participate in a debate with Middletown Mayor Tony Perry, a Republican. Babcock dropped out of the race after Patch reported that Babcock has an arrest record; he also said he dropped out for personal reasons. Rios said he still would have debated Perry.

"I am disappointed that I will not have the opportunity to talk about and answer questions about what I feel is important for voters to know about myself when making that important decision on November 8," said Gregorio. "The Republicans in Middletown have been in power for 40 years and how much do you know about those elected officials? I’d like to know if Mr. Settembrino and Mr. Hibell are on the right side of women’s rights, LGBTQIA+ rights and other important national issues."

"In my opinion, Mr. Settembrino and Hibell have a lot of things to answer to, being that they and their conservative counterparts have been in charge for so long, and those are things that they don’t want to answer to, like our taxes," she continued.

Hibell and Settembrino did not respond for this article.

Rios unsuccessfully ran for Middletown Township Committee in 2021. For more than the past decade now, everyone elected to the Middletown Township Committee has been a Republican and the town is seen as a Republican-controlled town.

The election will be Nov. 8. Here is Rios/Gregorio's campaign page, run by the Middletown Democratic Party: Yourmiddletown.com

Prior: Democrats Again Fail To Win Seats On Middletown Twp. Committee (Nov. 4, 2021)